The Wedding Dress

Percy held the dress up and twirled experimentally in front of the mirror. It was a beautiful dress. Percy wouldn't have noticed it by herself, it was Caroline who had found it. Floor-length, pink, and high-waisted, Percy imagined that it had once belonged to an English princess visiting the United States to meet the president. It was so sweet of Caroline to point it out to her--to do so much to ensure that Percy had a happy marriage while her own was falling apart.
Alderman may have loved Caroline, but Caroline's heart was in a different place altogether.

Percy let the dress fall to the floor, melting into a pink organza-and-silk puddle amid David's work boots and abandoned books, pulled on her blue jeans, and started up the hill to see Caroline.

"The baby isn't Alderman's, is it?" Percy asked flatly, sitting down at Caroline's side on the sofa where she sat, sorting through the baby clothes Emmy Perkins had dropped off that morning.
Caroline's fingers paused on the navy and red embroidery of a smocked summer romper and she glanced up at her sister, eyes wide and tearful, before staring hard down at the scuffed mahogany table legs.
"It's okay," Percy encouraged, forcing the tearful waver out of her own voice. "You can tell me."
Caroline, eyes still fixed on the floor, shook her head furiously. "No," she managed. "He's not."
Percy reached out and brushed her fingertips against the edge of Caroline's swollen stomach, felt the baby's flutter in response. "David's?" she inquired delicately.
Caroline nodded and began to cry. "I'm sorry, Percy, I'm so sorry. It's all my fault, I screwed everything up, I don't know why I let it get so far..."
Percy, momentarily stunned by Caroline's confession, leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Caroline's slight shoulders. "Caroline, don't cry, please don't cry."
"I love him," Caroline said finally. "Both of them. But Alderman is so...I'm so young, Percy, I'm too young for him. He was the same age...the same age I am now when I was bein' born. And I knew that bein' with David was wrong, and that's why I set 'im up with you. But I love him too much, just couldn't stop. I fucked it up, Perce. I fucked it all up."
Percy pulled Caroline closer and rocked her back and forth. "Caroline, it's okay. Okay?"
Caroline looked up, studying Percy's face. "It is?"
Percy nodded and released Caroline from her grasp. "Thank you for being honest with me," she said, and then left the house without another word.

The wedding was still going to go as planned. Percy and David would still get married. They would still live in the house they'd built at the bottom of the hill that Alderman and Caroline lived on. They would still eat dinner every Sunday at the big table in Alderman and Caroline's dining room, and David would pass Caroline the carrots and let his fingers graze hers for a moment longer than they should, but Percy and Alderman would turn a blind eye, because in small towns, family is everything, and sometimes you have to keep secrets for them.